Automatically configuring a neighbor set for a base station

Abstract

An automated technique for configuring a neighbor set for a base station ( 32 ) includes initializing the neighbor set based upon reported measurements from a mobile station ( 22 ). In a disclosed example, a newly installed base station ( 32 ) transmits a cell information list to a mobile station ( 22 ) requesting measurement reports regarding a plurality of candidate base station identifiers. Based upon the reported measurements, a determination is made regarding which of the base stations should be included in the neighbor set for the base station ( 32 ). A disclosed example includes the capability of automatically initializing the neighbor set and automatically updating the set. Disclosed examples include utilizing information from a plurality of mobile stations.

1. A method, comprising:
 automatically configuring a neighbor set for a base station responsive to measurements from each of a plurality of mobile stations regarding candidate neighbor base stations; 
 attempting to confirm the measurements from at least a first one of the mobile stations using the measurements of a second one of the mobile stations; and 
 determining that the first one of the mobile stations should not be used for automatically configuring the neighbor set if the measurements of the second one of the mobile stations does not confirm the measurements of the first one of the mobile stations. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , comprising
 instructing the mobile station to report at least a power measurement regarding each of a plurality of candidate base stations; 
 determining which of the reported power measurements correspond to neighbor base stations; and 
 including the corresponding neighbor base stations in the automatically configured neighbor set. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , comprising
 instructing the mobile station to report at least the power measurement regarding each of a plurality of base station identifiers selected from available base station identifiers; 
 associating the reported power measurement with respective base station identifiers, a time corresponding to the power measurement, an identifier of the mobile station reporting the power measurement; and 
 at least temporarily storing the associated power measurement, time and identifier of the mobile station. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , comprising
 instructing the mobile station to report at least the power measurement regarding each of a plurality of base station identifiers selected as a subset of the available base station identifiers; 
 repeating the instructing regarding another subset until at least the power measurement has been received from the mobile station for all available base station identifiers or the mobile station ceases communicating with the base station; and 
 performing the associating and storing steps for each of the base station identifiers. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , comprising
 determining at least which of the stored power measurements indicates a base station that should be included in the neighbor set. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , comprising
 selecting a base station identifier for the base station that is different from the base station identifiers of the base stations in the neighbor set. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 3 , wherein the base station identifier comprises at least one of a scrambling code or a pseudo random noise offset. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , comprising
 initializing the neighbor set automatically responsive to the measurements from the mobile station; and 
 updating the initialized neighbor set automatically responsive to at least one of subsequent measurements from the mobile station or measurements from another mobile station. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , wherein the initializing comprises
 transmitting a cell information list to the mobile station, the cell information list including one entry corresponding to the base station and a plurality of entries corresponding to candidate neighbor stations such that the mobile station utilizes the plurality of entries for determining from which candidate neighbor stations to obtain at least a power measurement for reporting to the base station. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , comprising
 repeating the transmitting wit a new list in the plurality of entries until a mobile station report regarding all candidate neighbor stations has been received or the mobile station stops communicating with the base station. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 8 , wherein the updating comprises
 transmitting a cell information list to the mobile station, the cell information list having a preset number of entries including one entry corresponding to the base station, a first plurality of entries corresponding to base stations in an active set of the mobile station, a second plurality of entries corresponding to base stations from the automatically initialized neighbor set for monitoring as handover candidates and a third plurality of remaining entries of the cell information list corresponding to candidate neighbor base stations for instructing the mobile station to report at least a power measurement from the corresponding candidate neighbor base stations. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , comprising
 identifying each of the candidate neighbor base stations using at least one of a scrambling code or a pseudo random noise offset.